Source: Redskins' Guice (knee) out 6-8 weeks

ASHBURN, Va. — Washington Redskins running back Derrius Guice underwent knee surgery to repair his right meniscus and will miss six to eight weeks, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday.

The injury also creates an opening for Adrian Peterson to start just one week after he was a healthy inactive for the season opener.

Guice tore his meniscus in Sunday’s 32-27 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Redskins initially hoped he would miss only a couple of weeks, but the knee didn’t show any improvements in the days after the game.

Guice was then examined by Dr. James Andrews, who performed the surgery.

Don’t feel bad for me!! This what I signed up! It wear and tears on your body over time! I’ve been doing this 15 years!! Trust the process.. head up chin up and grind

On Wednesday, Gruden said Peterson would start vs. the Dallas Cowboys if Guice needed to miss time. In two games against the Cowboys last season, Peterson rushed 24 times for 99 yards in a win and 12 times for 35 yards in a loss.

Guice has now suffered a knee injury in two of the three games he’s played for Washington — he tore his left ACL in the 2018 preseason opener. This summer, he made it through the third preseason game with no issues.

1 Related

In college, he hyperextended his right knee while playing for LSU.

Guice carried the ball 10 times for 18 yards against the Eagles on Sunday.

Gruden deactivated Peterson in the opener, the first time he’d been a healthy inactive in his 13-year career. The Redskins have typically only kept three running backs active. Because they planned to just use Guice and third-down back Chris Thompson, Gruden wanted the third back on special teams — which is why Wendell Smallwood was active over Peterson.

But the move surprised numerous players.

“You don’t have too many walking Hall of Famers on your football team,” right tackle Morgan Moses said after the game. “I commend him because it’s probably harder on him than me being able to deal with sitting on the sideline, but obviously we think he’s a hell of a football player and has a lot of juice left. Hopefully, you know, it’s just a one-week thing and we can move forward.”

Peterson started 16 games for Washington last season, rushing for 1,042 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s eighth on the all-time rushing list with 13,318 yards and tied for fifth with 106 rushing touchdowns.

After Sunday’s loss, when asked further on why he made Peterson inactive, Gruden said, “If we have a game where we think we can run the ball 55 times in a game in I-formation, then sure, I’ll get him up.”

But on Wednesday, Gruden said, “Adrian is a pro, and I feel very good, if his number is called this week, he’ll be ready to go and play very hard. He’ll be Adrian Peterson.”